Controversial crucifix creates rift at Warr Acres church

  • Thread starter Thread starter CatholicLife
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
…definitely not intentional… does look a little odd to me. Maybe adding more distinct individual ab muscles would fix it- easy enough.
 
This issue has been all over the place lately… the artist is going to change it. It wasn’t meant to look the way it does [to a lot of people]. It’s his distended abdomen.
 
The lines are a lot more defined in this image, but its identical to any other San damiano crucifix. I think its just our hypersexualized culture that just makes us see dirty images where they simply are not 😦 .
 
At first I thought they were talking about the gold tassel looking thing down the front of the loin cloth. The abdominal muscles while being odd in shape, were not what I looked at when I first heard the report. All I gotta say is some people need to stop thinking about the bedroom when they are in church. (What would they think if an artist did an actual depiction of what crucifixions really looked like?) :gopray::getholy::nun1::nun2::highprayer::signofcross::crossrc::blushing:
 
The clergy seems to indicate nobody has complained. The laity says it’s caused a major rift. This disconnect is disturbing. Are the lines of communication open?

Icons, real icons, are painted by mystics who pray and fast until such time as they see the subject they wish to portray. This is icon-style, not an icon per se, and is as authentic as the BBC’s symphony-style Beatles songs.
 
I hope these laypeople issue a public apology to the iconographer.

Blessings
 
goes to say how polluted the human mind is, spotting evil in places where evil remains absent.
 
nordskoven said:
The clergy seems to indicate nobody has complained. The laity says it’s caused a major rift. This disconnect is disturbing. Are the lines of communication open?

Icons, real icons, are painted by mystics who pray and fast until such time as they see the subject they wish to portray. This is icon-style, not an icon per se, and is as authentic as the BBC’s symphony-style Beatles songs.
Click to expand...
The clergy of the parish said that there have been complaints by some; it was the archdiocesan office that said it hadn’t received any complaints.

As for the “real icons” point, this is a San Damiano Crucifix, a traditional Latin image based on an Italo-Byzantine image. So far as I know it’s never been done with the “mystic” approach of the Byzantine East.

In fact, I’m not sure why this is in the Eastern Catholic Forum. :confused:

Peace and God bless!
 
Peace be to you.

Presumably because of iconography and its association with the east.
 
Chaldean_Rite said:
Peace be to you.

Presumably because of iconography and its association with the east.
Click to expand...
Perhaps.

The ‘distended’ portion looks to be a close copy of the distended abdomen on the San Damiano cross.

But the parish is apparently western and the San Damiano cross is more commonly associated with the Franciscans from Italy, not Orthodox or Eastern Catholics (although the original seems to be a relic from the Italy’s Byzantine past, there is no certain proof of that which I am aware of). The rest of the cross is even more basically plain than the original, with fewer human figures (one actually wearing a western mitre). It seems to me that the subject would be of more interest to Roman Catholics (although I admit to having a copy of the San Damiano myself).

Clearly this was not intended to be used as an icon, but I see that iconographic techniques were employed in it’s making.

http://www.americancatholic.org/gfx/san_damiano_cross.gif
 
Of interest to the Eastern bretheren here would be this excerpt from the followup article:
Parishioners enjoy the 19 religious icons designed by Janet Jaime on display in St. Benedict’s Western Rite Orthodox Church in Wichita Falls, Texas, the church’s pastor said.
Click to expand...
"Her work is absolutely superb, and actually getting better through the years,” said the Rev. James Rooney. "She’s a very faithful Orthodox Christian who takes seriously what the church asks her to do.”
Click to expand...
Personally, I am amazed at the liturgical diversity that seems to be found in Texas. I recently learned that it is also home to a majority of the “Anglican Use” parishes of the Latin Rite.
 
I don’t find it offensive…but I saw immediately what people were responding to! It would have been prudent of the iconographer to anticipate the effect his work could have, and to do it a bit differently.
 
I don’t find it offensive but I do think the artist knew full well what they were doing. The artist is very good and I think some people ought to get their minds out of the gutter. I would not have noticed if I had not read the article.
Well, that’s the San Damiano crucifix ruined for me.😦
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top